320 



A LEAF FKUM AN OLD JOURNAL. 



Bay of Beaumaris;, with ilic remains of the I The Welsh IIari)crs,\vlio travel from town 

 old Castle ou one side and the bold moun- ' lotown, with their harps strapped upon their 



shoulders, interested me much. They are 

 usually aged and blind, and though they' 

 are, for a few shillings, ready to play the 



tain of Penmaen-Mour on the other. It is 

 said that a reverend gentleman once re- 

 marked, that '• if he were Bishop of Bangor, 



the only translation he should covet would I airs of other nations, yet 1 thought I ob- 

 be thence to Heaven," From my comfort- ! served more enthusiasm in playing those of 



able head-quarters, I made excursions to 

 many interesting objects in the vicinity. 



I scaled the top of Snowdon, which, 

 though only 4,000 feet high (the height of 

 Round-Top in the Kaatskill range, and the 

 Peaks of Otter of Virginia,) is generally cov- 

 ered with clouds. Unlike our American 



their own wild country. 



I visited an extensively wrought quarry 

 of slate, which is not only split and cut to 

 the sizes for house-roofs, but it is used for 

 mantel-pieces, tables, tomb-stones, having 

 the appearance of black marble. 



The road from Bangor to Chester, through 



mountains, Snowdon, &c., are denuded of i the lovely vale of LangoUen, holds out 

 trees, and I found sheep grazing along its ' many attractions to the tourist. The sav- 



sides, even ranging among the mosses and 

 rocks to the top, bleached by the drifting 

 vapors. 



age looking mountains, with their " foam- 

 ing floods," and here and there the ruins of 

 a castle, erected to subjugate the Welsh, 



The views which were disclosed, as the contrast finely Avitji the cultivated vales, of-^ 

 clouds floated, veil-like, past me on the I ten containing the remains of a Chapel, or 



summit, were extensive and highly inter- 

 esting. The crater-like tops of the conti- 

 guous mountains, with thirty lakelets at 

 difTerent elevations, contrast wath the culti- 

 vated vales below, and the sparkling waters 

 of the adjacent seas. 



The road through Wales to Holyhead is 

 a national road, constructed admirably, and 

 at a great expense, by the British govern- 

 ment, for the Irish mail ; England being so- 

 licitous to receive daily accounts of the fit- 

 ful humors of the sister Island, [captive but 

 not united Ireland) — the Straits of Menai 

 being crossed by a magnificent chain bridge, 

 100 feet high and 600 feet span. It is said 

 that the straining of heavy chains, to the 

 required tension, was the critical operation 

 in the structure, and that Telford, the engi- 

 neer, (whose professional reputation was at 

 stake) was found praying for success by the 

 messenger who announced the achievement 

 to him. 



of some religious house. I diverged a little 

 from the road, to visit a ver}' interesting 

 ruin. It is of an old Chapel, the roof of 

 which has long since rotted away, and trees 

 have grown up in the aisles, and overtop 

 the walls, about which jackdaws and rooks 

 wheeled and cawed. Ivy has grown luxu- 

 riantly over the shattered arches, as if to 

 heal up and cover the injuries of time. 

 Ruins have a peculiar charm for an Ameri- 

 can, whose country (however joyous and 

 promising the future may be) has compara- 

 tively no retrospect. 



From Liverpool I was induced to visit 

 Dumfrieshire. It being the season of hay- 

 making, I saw parties of men, women, and 

 children, returning from the meadows, the 

 boys riding the horses decked with flowers ; 

 so much pleasure seems to follow the labors 

 of the day, that I could ill conceive the des- 

 titution and misery which is said to exist 

 among the peasantry. The climate seems 



